Alien VS Predator: Apocalypse
by Shika352617
Summary: The first of my AVP sequels. I do not own the Predators nor the Xenomorphs! Rated M for strong language, sexual activity between human characters, and brutal violence in some scenes.
1. Prologue: Unexpected Visitors

**Alien VS Predator: Apocalypse**

Prologue

The depths of Space.

Empty but for the billions upon billions of stars that filled it, each one billions of miles apart from the others that surrounded it. Cold. Dead. A deep, chilling silence prevailed in the cosmos, with no medium for sound to travel through. With such a deep silence, such an empty place, nothing could possibly go amiss among the emptiness.

At least, that's what one would think.

For all its silence and emptiness, the depths of space is full of dangers that one can only imagine. Black holes dot the empty vastness sporadically, invisible but for the absence of stars and light. Great galactic nebulae spread throughout the universe like clouds on a summer day. As beautiful as they may be, it was easy for one to get lost within their colorful mistiness. Asteroid belts periodically send a meteorite flying towards some distant planet, the many beings on said planet oblivious to any imminent danger from the cosmos.

Or any imminent danger from other beings.

Earth. The blue-green water planet rested peacefully in her Solar System. The only planet in the system capable of sustaining life. Over 8 billion human inhabitants, with untold trillions more life-forms dotting its surface in droves and packs and swarms. The human inhabitants lived their lives in blissful ignorance of the monstrous beings that had once visited their peaceful world. They viewed the idea of extra-terrestrial life as a meaningless joke and saw nothing to be concerned about.

It was an unfortunate and sad view of the cosmos. For this view, soon enough, would come to an end.

A massive star-ship loomed over Earth's atmosphere in the vastness of space, Earth's beautiful surface filling the bridge window. A single alien being sat at the controls of the massive ship, maneuvering the aircraft carrier-sized vessel with expert ease. His face was hidden by a strange mask that showed the world in, quite literally, a different light. The eyes of this mask saw more than a human could ever hope to see with the naked eye. Infrared heat signatures allowed this alien being to see all in his path, and by extension, the vessel's path.

The alien himself was massive. When standing, he topped at 7 feet, 3 inches, and was built like a professional athlete. His ten strong fingers were tipped with sharp claws, as were his massive feet. From his oddly shaped head, a mass of long, dreadlock-like appendages cascaded down his back. But these were not hair. They were sensory organs, made for adapting to hostile environments.

And indeed, these beings were more than capable of such. The race of aliens that inhabited this ship were capable of surviving in the harshest of environments. Aliens in plural, for there were many of them on this massive vessel. Not one of them was under six feet tall, and they each bore the same distinctive features. Only their masks deviated. Each mask was built and designed differently. Each could see multiple forms of heat signatures. Some of them bore weapons. One carried spears that crossed his back. Another had lethal whips wrapped around his shoulders. Still another had two oddly shaped guns on his shoulders.

For all the differences, they each had the same form of wrist bands, one containing a pair of razor sharp blades, the other containing a timed bomb that contained the force of a small nuke. These aliens were armed and dangerous, galactic Predators.

These Predators had visited the planet Earth before. They had been to Earth on four separate occasions to date. One had arrives for no other reason than to collect trophies. Another had arrived for the same purpose, though he had brought some friends with him. Three others had come to undergo a right of passage and had ended up having to clean up one hell of a mess. The most recent of these Predators had come for the exact same reason.

These Predators were here for a different purpose altogether, though it pertained to the reasons that the last two occasions had occurred. There had been much discord among the Predator elders when the word of their destroyed temple had reached their home world. After much discussing and planning, they had decided unanimously to reconstruct the temple that was now gone.

Hence why these Predators were now on their way to Earth.

There was something else. These Predators were not the only alien species aboard the ship. In the hold of this vessel, a massive cryogenic chamber held another species in stasis. This Alien was larger than all of the Predators combined. And it wasn't an _it_. It was a _she_. Deep in the hold of the Predator ship, a Xenomorph Queen lay in cryogenic stasis.

A dangerous cargo to say the least. All the more dangerous for events to come.

As the Predator ship passed over the North Pole, warning alarms began to blare throughout the vessel. The pilot Predator grabbed a microphone and began yelling in a garbled tongue consisting of growls, clicks, and roars. As he did so, a Predator in the hold looked out the porthole nearest to him.

A massive solar storm was headed their way. A storm twice the size of the vessel itself. Chaos reigned in the Predator ship. The Predators rushed through the labyrinth of halls in the vessel, trying to secure all loose cargo for the imminent impact that would soon rock their ship.

They were already too late.

The storm slammed full force into the vessel, knocking it off it's course and sending it careening along the Earth's curvature, descending fast. The Predators on board were knocked to the floor, their cargo breaking loose and tossing around, killing several of the Predators as the ship began to burn in the atmosphere of the planet below.

Several minutes later, the mighty vessel, crippled by the almighty solar storm, slammed hard in the middle of the California desert, debris flying everywhere. Only four of the 17 Predators on board had survived the crash. As they struggled to their feet, a faint rustling was heard in the rubble. They turned, dazed but alert, towards the sound. Moments later, eight finger-like legs appeared over the edge of a now-useless door. The nearest Predator raised his spear in self-defense, but was too late to stop the facehugger that lunged out of the doorway and latched itself to his face. As the other Predators scrambled to help, two more facehuggers appeared from the hold and attacked immediately, incapacitating two of the other Predators in seconds. The remaining Predator ejected his wrist blade and began hastily dialing in a code to send a distress signal to the Predator home world on his other wrist band. As he punched in the final sequence, a fourth facehugger emerged and launched itself at the remaining Predator just as the signal sent. The remaining Predator fell to the ground, still save for his breathing.

Deep in the rubble, the ship's hull split open with an ear-shattering shriek. A massive head burst from the confines of the hull-work, and two massive arms followed. The Queen had been awakened from her slumber. She tore at the damaged hull, and her side was cut by a protruding spear of a fallen Predator. Her acidic blood cascaded onto the ships hull, melting it away and allowing her to push her way out, all 26 feet of her towering over the fallen bodies in the vicinity. Behind her, hundreds of facehuggers began to scurry out of the wreckage, freed from their containers, and their eggs freshly hatched.

The Queen looked up to the black night sky and unleashed an ear shattering scream that echoed through the surrounding terrain as the facehuggers scurried in all directions.

40 miles away, the Los Angeles nightlife was reaching it's zenith, unaware of the horrors that had crash-landed near them and would soon arrive.

Soon. All hell would break loose.

* * *

**The prologue of my own sequel to _AVP_. Please read and review! I'm always open to feed back. This is the first of my two AVP sequels, and I hope to see as much positive feedback as possible. Please keep negative comments to yourselves. Thank you and enjoy, please!**


	2. Chapter 1: Dan

Chapter 1: Dan

_Location: Los Angeles, California_

_Date: September 17th, 2012, 0700 hours_

The ear shattering buzz of his alarm clock startled 23-year-old Daniel Wilshire awake with a start. Bright sunlight was streaming through his front bedroom window of his 9th floor L.A. apartment, rendering him temporarily blind as his eyes adjusted to the light. It was 7 a.m. on a Saturday, and Dan had set his alarm to go off at said time such that he could be dressed and will have eaten in time to catch _Metal Mania_ on VH1 classic so as to help him wake up more quickly. He had a lot to do today, for today was a very special day. He and his girlfriend, Elena, had been dating for 3 years today, and he wanted to be sure everything went perfectly for them both, no matter what.

Dan pushed himself out of bed, yawning widely and deeply, stretched, and started rummaging through his closet for appropriate anniversary attire, discarding four pairs of jeans and 5 shirts before settling on a pair of black skinny jeans and a vividly royal purple collared shirt. Still yawning widely and deeply, Dan exited his bedroom to the kitchen of his apartment, brushing his long black hair out of his eyes as he grabbed a pair of Hot Pockets from the freezer. As he popped them in the microwave and set the timer for 2 and a half minutes, he grabbed his t.v. remote with his free hand and turned on his kitchen television with a small click. _Metal Mania _was just starting, with Motley Crue's "Dr. Feelgood" starting off the 8 o'clock hour. As the low, crunching, heavy guitar chords thudded from his t.v., Dan grinned and flashed a "rock on" sign at the screen, headbanging a few times before turning to the microwave to wait for his Hot Pockets.

Dan was a very easygoing, laid back individual who lived alone on the west side of Los Angeles. He had graduated from UCLA majoring in Music Theory with a minor in Human Anatomy. He had been a track runner as well, and while not the tallest individual around (he topped at 5'11''), he was certainly one of the most agile, having entered UCLA through his track and field scholarship. He was lean and yet toned, and bore the signs of extensive training to hone agility and speed as well as strength, though the latter was not nearly as apparent. His straight black hair was down to the middle of his back, and gleamed slightly in the light.

As Dan fetched his freshly cooked Hot Pockets out the microwave, there was a loud knock on his door. Dan paused, looking very wary. Knocks on _his_ apartment door meant one of four things. Either the IRS wanted their due, his landlord wanted rent, someone wanted his shit, or someone was trying to surprise him.

"Yeesh, I paid the fuckin' rent yesterday, whaddaya want?" Dan muttered under his breath. Dan sighed, resigned to the worst, and went to his door and looked through his peek-hole. Nothing. Sighing, Dan reluctantly called, "Who is it?"

A familiar female voice, comically imitating a police officer, replied. "This is L.A.P.D.! You're under arrest for unnaturally strong attractions!"

Dan smirked and opened his door. There, standing with the biggest shit-eating grin on her face he'd ever seen, was Elena. Playing along with her joke, he rearranged his face into a look of mock-subdued penitence and raised his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, officer, you got me. But hey, what can I say, bitches be trippin'!"

Elena laughed and threw herself in Dan's arms, throwing her own around his neck and kissing him deeply. Dan responded very well and returned the kiss just as deeply. After a few moments, Elena broke the kiss and smiled warmly at him.

"You're early. Just can't get enough of me, can you," Dan teased her.

Elena giggled. "Just thought I'd surprise you. Got a problem with that?" She made a mock-indignant face.

Dan smiled. "As if I'd ever. Come on in." With that, Dan placed Elena on the floor and shut the door behind her. The young Latina simply looked radiant as she threw herself on Dan's couch and smiled up at him, clad in a pair of skinny jeans and a purple shirt that matched Dan's.

"How'd you know I'd wear black and purple?" Dan asked as he walked back into his kitchen to get his Hot Pockets.

Elena grinned. "Figured since you treat me like royalty as it is, I might as well dress like it! Interesting that you had the same idea, eh?"

Dan smiled as he placed his Hot Pockets back in the microwave. "Haven't even eaten breakfast and I'm already gettin' some smartassery from my chick. Funny little world, isn't it." Dan sat next to Elena. "Happy Three Years, Elena."

Elena smiled lovingly. "Happy Three Years, baby." Throwing her arms around him once again, she kissed him more firmly than before and Dan responded in kind, placing his arms on her waist. Little did they realize that they weren't alone.

Elena suddenly felt a stinging whip-like slap on her ass and yelped, breaking the kiss suddenly and staring at Dan, a bit shocked. Dan looked up at her, confused. "What is it?"

Elena's radiant smile had become a deep scowl. "Did you just do that?"

Dan looked even more confused. "Do what?"

Elena huffed and rolled her eyes. _Men! Always wanting what they want and playing dumb when caught. _ "Did you just slap my ass?"

Dan stared at her, unable to respond. He knew he hadn't, but as they were the only two in the room, how he deny it? Elena rolled her eyes and got off the couch.

"Dan, why don't I come back when your morning wood is calmed down?"

Dan shook himself. "Elena, I didn't do that!"

"So what did?" Elena asked.

Dan didn't have time to answer before Elena's question was answered for her. From behind the sofa, a man stood up with a triumphant grin on his face. "Surprise, sexy!"

Elena screamed and threw her purse at whoever it was, the heavily packed bag smacking him right in the face. It was Dan's British-immigrant roommate, Artie.

"Arite you perverted sonofabitch!" Elena shrieked as she attempted to launch herself at Artie. Artie's grin was ear-to-ear as he watched Dan restrain Elena like a zookeeper restraining a wild animal.

"Well, well, well, looks like Miss Wildcat's feelin' moooooooooody!" Artie laughed. Dan put Elena down and grabbed Artie by his collar and dragged him to his room, shutting him in and locking it from the outside. Artie yelled in protest as he tried to bust the door down with his weight. "Oi! Lemme outta 'ere!"

"No! You're staying in there! And you're not allowed out til never," Dan growled. As he walked back into the living room he found Elena packing her things back in her purse. "Where you goin'?"

Elena huffed angrily. "I'm going back home til you fucking pervs calm the fuck down! I'm not gonna be coming to your apartment, Daniel Wilshire, if your fucking perv of a roommate is going to grope me with every chance he gets! And don't look at me like that, you know you wanted to take me! We're done! Find some other woman to fuck!" And with that, Elena stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her so hard the apartment shook. Dan, his plea of protest lost, stormed back down the hall, seething, and reopened Artie's door and dragged him out into the hall, slamming him against the wall.

"I hope you're fucking proud of yourself, you fucking asshole, cos you just fucked up my anniversary!" Dan slammed Artie into the wall, re-entered the kitchen, grabbed his Hot pockets, and went back to his bedroom and slammed the door hard. Artie sat there on the floor in silence. Everything had been going perfectly. And then he'd had to be the dumbass and slap her ass. As if Artie wasn't feeling like shit as it was without Dan's anger.

"And all this cos I had a pantie shot..."

It would be several hours before Dan would emerge from his room.

Little did he know that he was not going like what he found.

* * *

**End of Chapter 1.**

**Chapter 2: Uninvited Pests. Coming soon.**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Yes, I know, it's a tad short, but I'm improving this as I go. I promise Chapter 2 will be way more satisfying. Read and review please! Always anxious for opinions! Just KEEP NEGATIVE COMMENTS TO YOURSELVES, PLEASE.**


	3. Chapter 2: Uninvited Pests

Chapter 2: Uninvited Pests

It was 3:47 pm by the time Dan managed to re-emerge from his room. He looked awful. His long black hair was disheveled, and it was apparent that he had fallen asleep in his clothes. His Hot Pockets lay cold and untouched on his bedside table. Elena's unfounded breakup had lost him his appetite and his energy. His t.v. was still on VH1 Classic (now showing _That Metal Show_), and his microwave was still open. Artie had left hours ago to attempt to explain things to Elena. Multiple times over the course of the day, Artie had tried to talk Dan out of the room, to no avail.

Dan was very groggy and at first didn't notice the fact that one of his windows was shattered. He lazily strolled into the kitchen and grabbed a Dr. Pepper from his fridge, not noticing that something else was in there as he shut the refrigerator and flopped onto his couch, gulping down the soda like it was water. Only when some it spilled down his cheek did he notice that the room was considerably breezier than before. The temperature was noticeably hotter than it had been that morning, as it was a sunny day (the high was supposed to be over 95 degrees Fahrenheit that day), and there was barely any wind. As Dan listened hard, he realized that the A.C. system sounded like it had been running for at least an hour, if not more. He looked around the room and saw his shattered window on the far side of the apartment. Dan's senses went right into overdrive, and in one smooth motion he flipped over his couch, flung open a drawer in a table next to it and whipped out a small revolver.

Dan was used to intruders, but he was suspicious about the circumstances of this particular situation. The window was broken inward, but a fair amount of glass was still clinging to the frame. The rug on the floor was almost brand new, and there were no signs of anyone having recently treading on it. Nothing was knocked over or broken. Nothing seem damaged apart from the window. Dan was prepared to assume that someone had thrown something threw his window when something on the floor caught his eye.

A sticky, transparent fluid was clinging to the hardwood floor. It looked to be between the stages of freshness and the beginning stages of coagulation. Dan edged cautiously towards it. That liquid had clearly not been there before. Dan crouched down, staring hard at the odd substance as he reached a cautious hand towards it. With his index and middle fingers he scraped a small amount of the fluid off the ebony-colored floorboards, bringing it into the light for a better inspection. It was unlike any substance he'd ever touched, and it felt like liquefied mucus. As he examined the foreign fluid, a loud knock on the door made him jump. Hastily wiping the slime on his jeans, Dan cocked his gun and edged slowly to the door, listening hard.

"Dan? You in there?" a familiar voice called. Dan's heart missed several beats. It was Elena who was speaking. Hastily stuffing his gun, still cocked, into the back of the waist band of his jeans, Dan straightened his hair as best he could, breathed in and breathed out hard and deeply, and opened the door. Elena looked thoroughly downcast.

"Elena?" Dan said in as casual a voice as he could muster, "What are you doing here?"

Elena hesitated and hugged Dan tightly. "I'm so sorry, Dan. I was so harsh to you. Artie explained everything. I promise, I won't do that again."

Dan, determined to appear calm, hugged her in return and said nothing. Elena released him and smiled brightly. "I'm dying of thirst, do have anything to drink?" And without further ado Elena strolled into the apartment and went into the kitchen. Dan was taken aback by her sudden cheerfulness but remained cautious. Following her to the kitchen, he spotted more of the clear slime on the hardwood, and realized there was a trail of it, with small pockmarks that looked like the footprints of a spider, leading from the broken window and right to the...

Dan opened his mouth to yell a warning when Elena opened the fridge. The moment she opened it, a large, eight-legged creature with a long tail launched itself out of the fridge and latched itself to Elena's face, silencing her scream of horror in a split second. Dan yelled out in shock and grabbed a small knife, hoping to cut it off her, and sliced at one of it's legs, immediately jumping back in shock to avoid the bright green acidic liquid that came out of it and began instantly eating through the floor with steam rising from it. Dan stared in horror at the thing that was clinging to Elena's face, helpless and unable to assist her.

At that moment Artie strolled through the open door. "Oi, Dan, just wanna warn ya, Elena's comin' over to...bloody hell, what the fuck is _THAT?!_"

Dan jumped up and grabbed Artie. "Don't touch it!" Dan pointed to the hole in the floor. "You see that?" Artie nodded. "That hole was made by some kind of acid. I tried to cut that thing off Elena but that acid came out of it and burned that hole. We can't hope to get it off her, it's clinging too tightly."

"So what do we do?"

"Wait and see if it gets off her, then kill it as soon as it does."

* * *

Several hours later, the odd creature was still clinging to Elena's face, and she hadn't moved a muscle. Dan and Artie were crouched, at the ready. Dan had his gun loaded and ready for action while Artie held a baseball bat.

Artie was visibly shaking and finally said after several minutes, "Dan, I can't do this, I need you to hit it if it gets off."

Dan sighed. "Artie, all you have to do is hit it..."

"I don't care, what if I miss?"

Dan sighed deeper than before, exasperated. "Fine, take the gun and give me the bat." Artie, grateful to be further away from the eight-legged creature, grabbed the gun and pressed the bat into Dan's hands. Dan crouched, ready to strike at a second's notice, every muscle in his body tensed. They waited, weapons at the ready for several minutes longer, and the creature suddenly stirred. Dan tensed, ready to strike it should it launch at him. The creature unclenched its legs from Elena's face, unwrapping its tail from her neck and flopping to the floor next to her and not moving. Dan didn't move. Artie saw this and came to Dan's side.

"Let's get that thing outta here," Artie said, reaching for it. Dan grabbed his arm sharply. "Wait! It might be faking."

Dan extended the aluminum bat towards the creature and nudged it, jumping back a bit. The creature didn't even twitch.

"It's dead."

Artie sighed in relief. Dan dropped the bat and picked the creature up by it's tail. "What the fuck is this thing?"

Artie shrugged. "I dunno, some kind of spider?"

"What kind of spider has no eyes and a tail?"

Artie had no answer. Dan, unwilling to find out what the creature was, walked over to his broken window and tossed it into the dumpster below. In the kitchen, a tired moan was heard. Elena was waking up. Dan rushed to her side. "Are you alright?"

Elena nodded weakly as she sat up. Before she could say a word, she doubled over, rolling into a fetal position and clutching at her chest. Dan rushed to her side and tried to ask her what was wrong, but the next moment rendered the question quite unnecessary.

As Elena let out a scream of agony, she threw her chest out and immediately there was a sickening crunch of breaking bones as her chest burst open and a blood-smothered creature burst its head out of her chest and let out an ear-splitting screech. Dan and Artie yelled in shock as the creature climbed out of her chest and scurried away. Dan took the gun from Artie and attempted to follow the creature but it was out the front door and scurrying down the hall in seconds. Artie and Dan watched in horror as they saw three more creatures exactly identical to it burst from apartments beyond. Dan grabbed Artie and yanked him towards the fire exit, busting the window open with his foot before shoving Artie through it.

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

"We've gotta get outta here now!"

Dan Jumped onto the fire exit and ran down the staircase as fast as he could, Artie close behind. At the bottom, Dan jumped the last several feet, landing on the pavement below and rolling to prevent his legs from breaking. Artie followed close behind, executing the same move. As they reached the bottom together, the door next to them was burst open and something massive lumbered out of it.

Dan and Artie stared in horror as a 6 foot tall creature with a nine foot tail emerged into the night air. It's head was elongated and it appeared to have no eyes. A profusely drooling mouth was prominent, lips pulled back to reveal close-set teeth. Several spikes protruded from its back and its powerful arms had hands that were the length of its forearms. Artie panicked and grabbed the gun from Dan. Before Dan could stop him, Artie fired the gun at the monster's head. The same green acid from before exploded from the creature's head, and some of it landed on Artie's arm. Artie yelled in pain as the acid started to eat through his arm, Dan unable to do anything but watch in horror as Artie's right forearm dropped to the ground. The creature, not dead, but wounded and enraged, launched itself on top of Artie and pinned him to the ground, opening its mouth wide. A long tongue slowly came out, a second pair of jaws visible at the tip, and hovered for a few seconds before bursting at lighting speed through Artie's skull. Dan immediately turned and ran, grieving for Artie and Elena but determined to survive.

He hadn't run long when he realized that his apartment building wasn't the only place that was crawling with these creatures. The streets of West Side Los Angeles were filled with screaming people running rampant through the streets as more of these monsters emerged. Even people whom Dan knew to be notorious looters were running in fear, all looting instinct forgotten at the sight of these massive creatures.

Dan, grateful his keys were on his wallet, ran to his black and red Mustang and jumped in it, jamming the key in the ignition and starting it. Dan gunned the engine and sped in reverse, flattening one of the creatures before putting his car into Drive and gunning through the streets of L.A. As he sped due East, he saw that the infestation hadn't spread to the rest of L.A. yet. Dan felt that it was only a matter of time.

Dan grabbed his iPhone and dialed in his brother's number, begging silently for him to pick up.

He did. "Ugh...hello?"

"Alex! It's Dan!"

"Dan? This is kind of a bad time, dawg..."

"It doesn't matter!" Dan yelled, "Get in your car right now and meet me on the outskirts of L.A., and bring as many people with you as you can! Wake up our friends and get your asses out of L.A.!"

"Dan? What's with you, you sound scared..."

"Alex, I don't have time to explain, get your ass and whoever else can fit in that van of yours and get your asses to the outskirts! I'll explain everything there!" Dan hung up and gunned his engine, driving as fast as he could through the streets towards the edge of L.A., running red lights and ignoring the stop signs as he tried to get as far from the carnage in the West Side as possible.

If only Dan knew then that after that night, his life would never be the same.

For the carnage in L.A. was only the beginning.

* * *

**End of Chapter 2.**

**Chapter 3: More Visitors... Coming Soon.**

**WHOOHOOHOO! How's THAT for an Alien entrance, eh?!**

**Hope you found this Chapter to be more satisfying than Chapter 1! Please read and review! I'll have Chapter 3 ready ASAP. **


	4. Chapter 3: More Visitors

Chapter 3: More Visitors

It was the early hours of the morning when Dan finally stopped his Mustang on the outskirts of L.A.. Never in his life had he been more wide awake than he was now. After watching his girlfriend and his best friend both die before his eyes, Dan was shaken to the core. It felt like some terrible nightmare that you wished could end but wouldn't, no matter what you wished.

In his near panic, Dan had run red lights and stop signs all the way here, having only stopped to refill his gas tank. No cops had stopped him on the way, which told him that the situation on the West Side was at least being seen to. Not that any good would be done, if Artie's death had been anything to judge by. Those Aliens, for that was the only thing they could be, were obviously tough to kill. Artie had shot one in the head, and it had still been able to put a massive hole in _his_ head. There was no telling what havoc those Aliens would reek, if they were to get beyond L.A..

As Dan thought this, a worse thought came to his mind: What if the Aliens _weren't _just in L.A.? What if they were in other places in the world? What if they had systematically landed in major cities all over the world, like the Aliens in the movie _Independence Day_? What if, at that very moment, more of these monsters were biding their time in space, planning an all-out invasion?

Whatever the case was, regardless, Dan knew one thing. He needed to stay alive at all costs. There was far too much at risk for him too allow the shock of his two closest friends dying before his eyes to mess with his mind. Dan was many things, but he was not one to back down in the face of danger. Even as he sat there on the hood of his Mustang, alone, on the edge of the California Desert, Dan was thinking hard, trying to think of a way to stay alive, lay low, perhaps, wait 'til these creatures died out, or fight back, even, get as many heavy-caliber guns as possible, along with the corresponding ammunition and take them out.

Dan's train of thought was interrupted by the distant booming of music. Dan's head snapped up and he looked around, and soon spotted a multi-colored flashing light in the distance. Dan knew instantly what it was. _That can only be Alex, _Dan thought, _I don't know what the hell he's thinking, if there's more of those things out there, then that van is a shining beacon for them..._

Alex's van pulled up and Alex himself jumped out the driver's seat, Drowning Pool's "Bodies" immediately blaring across the desert as he opened his door. The side doors of the light-flashing van slid open and four girls jumped out the side. One was African American, one was Japanese, one was a Latina, and one was a blonde. Two guys jumped out after them, and Dan recognized his two old high school friends, Eric and Dominic. Dan looked over at Alex as he took in the miniature party in front of him.

"Are these the only people you could convince?" he asked his brother.

Alex shrugged guiltily. "Every one else I called hung up on me, little bro. It _is,_ like, four o'clock in the morning, dawg."

Dan sighed and winced as the intro of Iced Earth's "Dystopia" blared from the van. "Alex, turn the fucking music off, it's not safe."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "How is it not safe?"

Dan glared daggers into his older brother. "Just fucking turn it off! This is serious!"

Alex raised his hands in self-defense. "Okay, okay." Walking over to his van he flipped a switch and the music cut off. The flashing lights stopped and the four girls, Eric, and Dominic looked over at the van.

"Hey, yo, dawg, what the hell?" Dominic demanded. He was African-American, and Eric was Caucasian. "That was my jam, yo!"

Eric agreed. "Didn't ya say this was a pwahty?" Eric was a New Jersey boy, and his accent was quite the typical Yankee drawl.

Alex sighed and jerked his thumb over at Dan. "Ask _him_." All eyes turned to Dan.

Dan sighed deeply. "Okay, look guys, I don't know if you've noticed, but the entire West Side is in a state of panic right now, and I know exactly why." The group was silent. "Just hours ago, I watched my best friend and my girlfriend die before my eyes. Neither of them saw it coming, and no one was prepared for it. But they didn't just spontaneously die. They were each killed by some...thing."

Alex was watching his little brother closely. _He's believing every word he's saying. I can tell. He came up with crazy stories when we were kids, but this is different. He was never a good actor. Which means he's either crazy, or telling the truth. _

Dan continued. "Whatever that _thing _was, there was more than one of them. The entire West Side was in a state of panic by the time I got out of there, and it can only be a matter of time before all of L.A. is encompassed by it. Then who knows how far it will spread." The entire group stared at him in total silence, not knowing what to think or say to Dan's speech. Alex was convinced that Dan was telling the truth. Dan never was a liar, and it was obvious that he wasn't insane, so it was the only logical explanation as to why he was telling everyone this outrageous story.

If anyone had had a retort, it was lost as Alex, gazing over the desert landscape, suddenly said loudly, "What the _fuck_ is _that?!_"

Everyone turned in the direction he was pointing, and they saw it too. The sun was coming over a rise in the terrain that was obviously miles away, and yet silhouetted against the increasingly bright sunlight was a large metal something that protruded from the terrain like some massive tooth. Dan was the first to react when he saw it, jumping into his Mustang and gunning the engine, Alex quickly getting the others in the van to follow.

As Dan drove towards to dune, the metal object at its summit became clearer to the eye. Dan stopped his car and jumped out running to the top of the dune and finally seeing the object up close.

A massive metal hull rose up before him. A massive metallic wall that cast a long shadow over the landscape as the sun rose from the east and shined on the remains of a massive ship. Dan began walking around the massive vessel and taking it in. It was huge, spanning a couple acres at least. He stopped a third of the way around it and stared. In the side of the vessel facing northeast, a massive, gaping hole was rent in the metal. Dan looked it over and stepped back in shock.

A corpse was laying among the wreckage. A single glance at it told Dan that it wasn't human, for its skin was too tough, its build too tall. A bright metallic mask covered its face, and was crushed inward, as though he had been punched in the face by a giant. There was a gaping hole in his chest, the ribs burst outward by something. Glancing around, Dan noticed another eight-legged creature exactly like the one that had attacked Elena, lying several paces. Looking at the ground, Dan realized that the humanoid, now dead, had attempted to walk a ways before the second creature had burst from his chest. As Dan followed the marks in the sand, his blood chilled despite the increasing heat. Whatever had burst from this other beings chest had grown into something much larger than the monster he had seen in L.A.. Something _far_ larger, and judging by the marks in the sand, something much _faster_.

Dan had no idea what these monsters could be, but perhaps the ship may hold a clue. Trekking back to the ship, he found the rest of the group gathered around another fallen corpse with another hole in his chest much like the one of his companion. Alex looked up at Dan as he approached and said, "I think you should look at this..."

Dan came up beside Alex and saw that, unlike the other fallen alien, this one wore no mask. The face that was turned up to the sky was, put simply, hideous. A large mouth hung open, with four mandibles protruding from around it, each one tipped with a sharp claw. Two red-orange eyes stared blankly up at them, a look of shock fixed on the alien face. Dan walked away from the second corpse and began thinking hard. Whatever had done this was obviously the same creatures that Dan had seen in L.A., but something was different here. the foot prints in the sand didn't go solely towards L.A.. They split into three directions. One trail bore southwest, while another bore northwest. Dan realized something with a sickening feeling. The eight-legged parasites had gone to L.A., San Diego, and San Francisco. It was the only explanation. The cities were densely populated, a sheer feast for these creatures.

Eric came up next to Dan. "'Ey, yo, got any idea what mighta done this?"

Dan was about to answer when he noticed something behind Eric. The air was seeming to shimmer, as though it was bent around something. Eric suddenly screamed as something metallic burst from his chest, some kind of blade. Dan instinctively grabbed his spare gun, taken from his car, and fired at whatever was behind Eric. There was the sound of crackling static and a massive alien appeared. Eric's dead-weight body was tossed aside as the 7 foot tall alien advanced on Dan. Dan held his gun and didn't take a single step back, snarling, "If you think a blade is gonna scare me after the shit I've seen in the last 24 hours, you've got another thing coming, mother fucker. Bring it!"

The massive alien stopped. His face was masked, like his dead comrade, as Dan realized the body was. The alien tilted his head to one side and gestured behind him. 8 more aliens appeared. The girls screamed and jumped back in the van as the aliens all appeared seemingly from thin air.

Dan kept his gun trained on the alien in front of him, prepared to fight for his life. To his well-hidden surprise, none of the aliens advanced. The one in front turned to Dan and emitted several click-like noises that sounded like some kind of alien growl language. Dan looked from one alien to the other. They seemed to be talking to each other. When one of them turned towards the van, Dan fired a second shot at its feet.

"NO!" Dan yelled, "If you're going to hurt any of them, you'll have to do me first!" The alien turned towards Dan, obviously enraged, but his comrade stopped him and growled. His meaning was clear. _Leave them alone. _Dan, while surprised at this turn of events, kept cool. The one in front of him reached up and pulled two cords from his mask and removed it. His alien face gazed down at Dan and Dan stared unblinkingly into the aliens face. Dan stared, fearlessly, into the eyes of this foreboding alien, and Dan could see that this alien was as fearless as he was, a Predator. _What a fitting name_, Dan thought, for these aliens looked quite like alien Predators._  
_

Dan looked ceaselessly into the eyes of the Predator before him. "Do you have a name, big boy?"

The Predator seemed surprised at such a simple question. His four mandibles opened outward and a single guttural word left his throat, like a death metal growl.

"_Thrrrrrrrrrrrresssssssssssssssssh."_

"Thresh," Dan repeated to himself. It seemed fitting, for this Predator was carrying whips, and they seemed to be his only weapons of choice.

Alex watched all this from a distance. "Dan, what the fuck are you doing?" he muttered to himself.

Dan looked up at Thresh once again. "Why are you here?"

Thresh pointed towards the destroyed ship, and at his fallen comrade, and at the tracks in the sand.

"You know about those creatures?"

Thresh nodded. He pointed back at the ship, and then pointed to the sky, and then activated a small hologram projector on his left wrist that displayed Antarctica.

"You were bringing them here, to Earth, to go there, Antarctica...why?"

Thresh looked at his comrades, as though unsure as to whether or not to tell the human before him. He seemed to decide it didn't matter and pointed at the other humans, and mimed the smaller Alien bursting from his chest, and then pointed to his whips.

"You brought them here, to use us as hosts, so you could hunt them..." Dan, though disgusted, wasn't surprised as he turned away to ponder this. It seemed a fitting reason for Predators like these. After all, humans were nothing to these creatures, so why bother with what they think of how they're being used? Dan turned back to the Predator. "It looks like you guys have one hell of a mess to clean up."

Thresh nodded in agreement.

"How much help are willing to have in that task?"

The Predator seemed a bit shocked at this question and growled at his comrades, who began clicking at one another, as though discussing it. Thresh turned to Dan and pointed to himself and nodded, and then he pointed at his comrades and shook his head. The meaning couldn't have been any more clear. _I'm willing to accept your help, but I'm not sure about the others. _This didn't surprise Dan either.

"You'll need all the help you can get. Those Aliens are reproducing fast. My home town is probably completely overrun by now."

Thresh stared at him, as though this was new information to him. Dan couldn't see how this was news to the massive hunter, but there was no doubt that it was.

"Those...facehuggers...went to three major cities here. I can tell by the direction of the tracks. By this point, all three cities are likely to be overrun by those...things."

Thresh growled at his comrades, apparently conveying this information, and all 8 of the others roared like lions, obviously outraged. Thresh turned back to Dan and reactivated his projector, showing him the image of a massive alien that was similar yet different to the creatures Dan had seen in L.A.. Thresh pointed at it and held up a single finger.

"That's our first priority? What is that?"

Thresh pointed at one of the girls.

"A female?"

Thresh nodded and then mimed placing a crown on his head.

"A Queen? What does she do?"

Thresh pointed at the dead facehugger on the ground.

"She makes those things?!"

Thresh nodded vigorously.

"So...no queen, no facehuggers, and no facehuggers, no other aliens!"

Thresh nodded but then pointed at his comrade and flipped the projection. It now showed an Alien similar to the ones in L.A., but this one was larger. It had mandibles similar to the Predators' and had long, dreadlock-like appendages. Thresh pointed at his comrade and then once again mimed the chestburster.

"That thing...is one came out of him?"

Thresh nodded and held up four fingers.

"There's _four _of them?!"

Thresh nodded. Dan took a moment to take all this in. So there were for PredAliens, as Dan thought was fitting to call them, a Queen, and an untold amount of facehuggers that was growing by the second. At this rate the infestation could go worldwide.

Dan turned to Thresh. "How long will it take to prepare to after these things?"

Six human voices yelled "WHAT?!"

* * *

**End of Chapter 3.**

**Chapter 4: Washington DC and The Hunter. Coming soon.**

**Hope you enjoyed this! Read and review please, I'm anxious to know what you think!**

**On a personal note, this took quite a while to write, just because of the amount of detail I'm trying to put into this, that and the fact that typing up all this dialogue takes a while, so yeah. I hope you find this worth the wait, cos I think this was worth the effort I put into finding time to type this.**

**Anyway, I'd like to give a shoutout to hillhog25, Gundam Avalanch 101, and NoraStar, who remain my three biggest fans. Nora, thank you so much for your support and your reviews. Gundam, thank you for sticking to my stories and giving your honest opinion on each one. Hillhog, thank you for submitting my first request, I look forward to any other requests you may have.**

**Thank you, everyone who has given their continuous support.**

**Please continue to read and review my stories. There are many more to come and you can find the names of upcoming fanfictions on my profile, as well as a link to my DeviantArt account.**

**As a heads-up on upcoming plans, this Friday I will be going out of town to visit my Grandfather, who recently had knee-replacement surgery. I will be out of town until that following Monday and will be unable to complete any chapters for my two current In-Progress stories. During that time, please continue to read and review and hang tight til I come back!**

**Enjoy this chapter!**


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